SECURE | REMUS LUPIN

1 ; beginnings and best friends

SECURE — CHAPTER 1

[ "Katherine Hart! Is that my best friend I see?" ]

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september 1st, 1976

The familiar scarlet train was unmistakable the minute she set foot on the platform. Scents of train smoke and burning coal reached her nostrils, giving her an underwhelming comfort in the familiarity of it all. The mixture of these scents in the air was something she'd come to associate with home.

Noisy chatter echoed around them from teenagers and parents milling around, getting their affairs in order. Katherine dully took note of the way the younger kids sounded more than excited as they held onto the hands of their parents tightly.

Katie snuck a glance at her mother, smiling softly to herself. Even at the age of 16, Katherine Hart still held tightly to her mother's hand. After all, her mother's warmth was another feeling of home.

"Oh, come here, sweetheart." Her mother pulled her into a tight hug, pressing her temple gently to hers. "Ah, my Katherine's grown up so fast." She pulled out of the hug to get a better look at her daughter, still keeping her hands on her cheeks. "Feels like just yesterday I was watching you and James squabble with each other for the first time on this platform," she said, amused.

"But in the height department, I'd say she's still the same," her father interjected with a small, teasing smile.

Katherine let go of her mother slightly, still keeping an arm on her mother's shoulder, before swatting at her father playfully. She reached over her arm to pull his arm towards them, urging him to join their hug.

She smiled teasingly at the young boy standing just a few feet away from them. "Con, come 'ere too," she said to her brother. He ran up to them, a wide smile at his lips, as he clings to his sister's stomach.

Taking a small step back, Katherine kept an arm planted squarely on each of her parents' shoulders. She gave each shoulder a squeeze. "Take care of yourselves while I'm gone. I don't wanna hear any mention of you guys in the paper unless dad's caught some death eater or if mum's done something extraordinary got it?"

She stared intently at her parents, leaving them to decipher the words she was really meaning to say - 'don't let me hear that you've died.'

Katie's father pulled her into another hug. "Kit, take care of yourself too alright? We'll be fine, just worry about your studies." A playful smile crept up on his face. "And how 'bout let's try to not break limbs this year?"